If you've ever wondered what the pool of data which is the Stanley Cup results would sound like turned into song, then... well, you have an overactive imagination. But now that artist Bard Edlund has done just that, you'll wonder why more visualizations don't make use of audio, too.

The goals tally cumulative scoring for each team (rather than goals against). When a puck crosses the goal line, a musical note plays. There's one instrument sound for Western Conference teams, and another for Eastern Conference teams. Higher-seeded teams are assigned a higher pitch. This means you can actually hear whether higher- or lower-seeded teams are scoring more, and if Western or Eastern Conference teams are producing more goals. A melodic loop of lap steel guitar plays in the background, tying the sounds together into some kind of pseudo-ambient, pseudo-listenable music. Pucks drop at center ice twice per second (except for pauses between periods or goal-less periods), and all in all there are 414 goals scored!

Thanks in small part to the beat in the background, the result kinda sounds like a real song. I like it. While it's perhaps not the most intuitive way to portray the data, I can't help but think that the idea could be used to great effect with some pools of information. [Bard Edlund via Flowing Data]